JOHOR BAHRU, May 17 (AFP) - Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday challenged the government to charge him for his alleged involvement in a judge-fixing scandal during his rule.

The government on Friday released a report that found evidence of an "insidious" conspiracy to influence the appointment of judges and had listed Mahathir, along with other top figures, as being involved.

Following the release of the report, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's cabinet agreed for the attorney-general's chambers to immediately investigate the allegations against those identified in the report, including Mahathir.

"I welcome it," the 82-year-old influential leader said at a meeting in southern Johor state.

"I want them to charge me in court. Only then will I have the opportunity to expose more conflicts faced by the judges, including those who have implicated me," he told reporters.

The report was prepared by a royal commission that investigated a video clip allegedly showing top lawyer V.K. Lingam brokering judge appointments.

"We are of the view that there was, conceivably, an insidious movement by (V.K. Lingam) with the covert assistance of his close friends," it said, citing business tycoon Vincent Tan -- Mahathir's close associate -- and secretary general of the ruling United Malays National Organisation, Tengku Adnan.

"In the process, Tun Mahathir Mohamad was also entangled," the report said, referring to the man who ruled Malaysia with an iron fist for 22 years.

The report said there was "sufficient cause" to invoke laws including those on sedition and corruption against "some of the principal individuals involved." But it did not specify who should face prosecution.

During the commission inquiry, Mahathir testified that he was not influenced by his associates when he selected judges.

His arch foe and former deputy premier, Anwar Ibrahim, unleashed a furore last year by releasing the clip, which apparently showed Lingam telling a person identified as former chief justice Ahmad Fairuz that that he would put him forward for a top job.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (theStarOnline) - It was the Cabinet that did not approve the use of indelible ink during the March 8 election, Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman disclosed Saturday.

He said he was told to take responsibility for agreeing to it.

"The Cabinet gave two very strong reasons why they did not agree to it – security and the law - Article 119, concerning the basic right for everyone to vote, and I agreed with them," he said.

It’s not easy being EC chairperson. I took the rap over the years,” Abdul Rashid said, adding that the commission wanted a review of election regulations.

He said that the commission should have a bigger control over the electoral process under Article 113 to Article 120 of the Federal Constitution.

“This would give us power to control abuses. One important aspect that has to be looked into immediately is the registration of electors registration,” Abdul Rashid said after launching the National Seminar on Elections 2008; Democracy at Work.

He said another power lacking in the EC was the power to take court action.

“When people say the wrong things we should be able to sue. A lot of scandalous things have been thrown about, including from the media, the mainstream or alternative media.

“They must be made to pay for the things they say because most of the things they have been saying are not true” he said.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah reminded Malaysians that if PAS comes to power it would insist on the country becoming an Islamic state even though it is now part of the Opposition alliance that has control of five states.

The Umno division chief of Gua Musang, Kelantan was quoted in a recent wide-ranging interview with the Sin Chiew daily, a popular mass circulation Chinese language newspaper.

“If PAS were in power, their ideal would be to replace the Constitution with the Al-Quran, and to rule according to syariah law. They might even remove the rulers. There would be no rulers as we know them under syariah law, only a single spiritual head,” said the Kelantan prince also widely known as Ku Li.

He said Umno's ideology is very different from that of PAS and that is the reason it is constantly attacked by PAS. However, Umno will never turn the country into an Islamic state. “Under the Constitution, Islam is the official religion of the federation while non-Muslims can profess and practise their own faith freely.”

He pointed out that recently there were some people who had raised the issue of an Islamic state again. These people, Ku Li said, felt that some Umno leaders' stand about the Islamic state issue was not clear.

“Actually Umno has never thought of implementing the Islamic state because we adhere to the Federal Constitution. Nothing in the Umno constitution says that we will ever intend to change this country into an Islamic state.

“If we had wanted to, we would have done it when we were negotiating for Independence, or when we negotiated for the Federation of Malaya agreement in 1948. There was no MCA, MIC at that point. It was just Umno who negotiated with the British together with the rulers in 1948, when they decided not to proceed with the concept of Malayan Union. They don't have to wait till now.

“We have syariah law, but it is only used to govern the Muslims in personal matters. We are not going to encroach on the personal lives of others. Non-Muslims have the right to freedom of religion that is protected by the Constitution.”

On the current state of the party, Ku Li felt that today's Umno members and the leadership are not willing to make sacrifices. “They just want to please their leaders to retain the benefits they now enjoy. If Umno does not make a move to change soon, it will lose everything it has.”

He pointed out, “Yes, it's good to obey the leaders. But you have to make sure that the leaders are doing the right thing. It is incumbent on us to correct the leaders if we suspect that they are doing something wrong, which is harmful or disastrous for our community, for our country.”

He said there is no struggle without sacrifice. If not for the fact that Datuk Onn (Jaafar) and his team had been willing to undergo personal sacrifice to move ahead to form Umno and demolish the Malayan Union, there would not be a Malaysia today.

“We are the beneficiaries of their struggle. If we don't continue with this kind of spirit, what we have today will be gone. Our future generation, our children, our grandchildren will not benefit from the rights that we enjoy today. This is my message to Umno.”

Thursday May 15, 2008 (theStar) - An opposition MP expressed dissatisfaction that emergency motions tabled to discuss the death of a national service trainee and the Internal Security Act were rejected by the Speaker.

M. Manogaran (DAP - Teluk Intan) said he was upset that there was no chance to debate both issues.

“If the death of a national service trainee is regarded as non-urgent to discuss in the Dewan, I do not know what else is urgent,” said Manogaran.

Manogaran was referring to Fong Po Kuan (DAP – Batu Gajah)’s emergency motion to debate the latest death of a trainee on Tuesday which was dismissed on the ground that it was not urgent.

Deputy Speaker Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said although the trainees’ well-being was a matter of concern, the Government had already taken steps to improve the health and safety levels at the camps.

Opposition Leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, in a statement issued yesterday, also said her emergency motion to urge the Government to make the Lingam tape report public and to table the report in Parliament was also rejected.

She said that the motion should have been allowed if the Government was serious in restoring the integrity of the judiciary.

KLANG, May 11 (theStarOnline) - The family of Too Hui Min, the national service (NS) trainee who died after complaining of constipation, is suing the NS Training Department for negligence.

“We believe it was more than constipation and we want justice for our daughter,” said Hui Min’s mother Chin Kwee Choo, 52.

“How can a healthy girl die all of a sudden like this?” she asked.

Hui Min, from Geo Kosmo NS Training Camp in Kuala Kubu Baru, died at Slim River Hospital on Wednesday at 10.45pm after complaining of constipation.

The distraught mother said that despite passing with flying colours in her SPM examination last year, Hui Min did not have big dreams. The 7As scorer only wished to be a tour guide.

“She has never been anywhere else except her own country,'' said Chin.

“It was her dream to travel overseas and experience the world by herself. Now, it will remain just a dream.”

Chin said she and her husband Jong Sing were not satisfied with the explanation that their daughter died of toxic megacolon.

“We want to know what happened,” she said during a press conference organised by Pandamaran state assemblyman Ronnie Liu here yesterday. Chin and her husband had sought help from Liu, who had arranged a lawyer for them.

The Selangor exco member joined other DAP voices in demanding that the NS programme be scrapped in view of the number of fatal cases, most of them involving girls.

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NS trainee dies after upset stomach

KUALA LUMPUR 8 May (theStarOnline) - A National Service trainee who complained of an upset stomach after having lunch, died nine hours later at a hospital.

National Service Training Department director-general Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil said Too Hui Min, 18, died on Wednesday at 10.45pm at the Slim River Hospital in Perak.

The teenager and 177 other trainees from the Geo Kosmo Camp in Kuala Kubu Baru, had chicken rice for lunch while training at the shooting range in Jugra Banting, Selangor. They arrived at the range at 1.45pm,

However, at 3pm, Too complained of an upset stomach and was checked on site by a paramedic on standby. Too, he said, was not allowed to continue with the shooting training and was given medication for wind.

She was then taken back to the camp before she was driven to the hospital.

"Too was the only one who suffered an upset stomach. We are quite puzzled as the rest of the trainees are fine.

"We convey our deepest condolences to the deceased's family. However, we are not taking this lightly and will conduct a thorough investigation. seterusnya.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 (Bernama) -- Kimanis Member of Parliament Datuk Anifah Aman said Wednesday Sabah elected representatives were looked upon with suspicion for raising the grievances of the people of the state which he claimed had been marginalised for a long time from mainstream development.

"When we voice the people's aspirations, it does not mean that we oppose the government. When we use strong words, it does not mean that we want to switch political parties. "What we want to inform this House is that the people of Sabah did not switch camps like those in the five states in the peninsula," he said when speaking during the debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat.

However, he said, it was not wrong to switch parties or "vacate a bungalow and move in to a terrace house if we are not given sufficient room in the bungalow".

"Let it be, even if it were a terrace house. We will all enjoy the same facilities. Even when we live in a bungalow, we still sleep by the toilet," he said.

The "bungalow, terrace house" phrase was used by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi earlier when he asked Anifah, who had declined the post of deputy transport minister, whether he agreed that it was pointless to move out of a bungalow, meaning the Barisan Nasional (BN), and move in to a terrace house, in reference to the opposition alliance.

"I agree. What's the use of switching from a big house to a small house? But, if there is no room for us in the big house, what's wrong with it (moving to a small house)? baca seterusnya

mrdhikrbeads : According to Imam Nawawi Jurist of the Shafi'i school The hadith master Author of 40hadith Sharh of Sahih Muslim and Ryadh us Salihin; To raise the finger is moving it. Imam Nawawi looks at the Sahih hadith related by Abi Dawud which negates moving the finger. Do they contradict? NO he and other jurists say that moving it means simply raising it And once it is raised one doesn't move it. Shaykh Albani says the hadith is Daif, but Imam Nawawi says it is Sahih. Wa Allahu 'Alim :)